‘Only The Lonely’: The classic track rock legends rejected
As a music fan, it’s always seemed like a bizarre transaction for a songwriting artist in their own right to hand over a piece of work to another. I suppose it speaks to a sort of deep artistic integrity that a mere critic like myself couldn’t understand. But when you harbour one of music’s most iconic voices, as Roy Orbison did, it seems somewhat of a travesty to kiss it goodbye.
In fact, the idea of swapping his voice out for someone else’s is a non-negotiable in Jeff Lynne’s eyes: “You can’t replace Roy. It’s impossible. Roy had the best voice of anybody I’ve ever heard in rock ‘n’ roll, just magnificent.”
But perhaps more than any other melodic aspect of music, the voice is most subjective. It’s the primary emotive trigger in any song. While Orbison’s distinctive baritone had the unwavering ability to speak to a more classic fan and provide dramatic depth, he was indeed an artist in a time of flourishing difference.
In the passing lanes of music at that time were gravelly blues legends like Howlin’ Wolf and Little Richard, as well as one knee-shaking whippersnapper named Elvis Presley. The latter’s emergence, in particular, would have marked the beginning of a more animated style of baritone delivery and an interesting point of creative difference for Orbison.
Which is potentially why Orbison wanted Presley to sing on his 1961 hit ‘Only the Lonely (Know The Way I Feel)’, but he ultimately declined. As well as Presley, Orbison and his co-writer Joe Melsom eyed up the Everly Brothers as potential suitors for the song who similarly turned it down and encouraged the great singer to put his own iconic voice on the track.
It proved to be a wise observation from the Everly Brothers, whose refusal to sing on the song led to number 2 Billboard chart hit for Orbison. While the details of Presley’s refusal to sing on the song are scarce, one can only imagine it came from a similar place of artistic admiration as he later described Orbison as “quite simply, the greatest singer in the world” during a performance in Las Vegas in 1976.
The song refers to a downtrodden lover waving goodbye to his partner and was born from the real-life experience of Melsom who had his adolescent heartbroken by a girl who left him, driving off in a Cadillac.
But Orbison himself spoke of the song, as well as the rest of his downcast back catalogue, insisting that many of his sad songs were born during a time of relative personal happiness:
“I’ve always been very content when I wrote all those songs,” said in a 1980 interview. “By this, I’m saying that a lot of people think you have to live through something before you can write it, and that’s true in some cases, but I remember the times that I was unhappy or discontent, and I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t communicate, and I certainly couldn’t write a song, no way.”
He added, “All the songs I wrote that were successful were written when I was in a contented state of mind.”
